Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery

Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery,
(born Dec. 21, 1957, Dublin, Ire.—died Jan. 10, 2012, Dublin), Irish investigative journalist who exposed the systematic physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children in institutions run by the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. Raftery’s documentaries for Ireland’s state-owned RTÉ television revealed the suffering of children at the hands of many Roman Catholic nuns and priests and the subsequent cover-up by church officials and thereby triggered public anger as well as formal investigations by the Irish authorities. In States of Fear (1999), she uncovered the abusive treatment of poor and abandoned children in state-financed church-run “industrial” schools. Raftery’s revelations led ... (100 of 289 words)